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| NEIGHBORHOOD REPORT: FOREST HILLS; Not the Playing Fields of Eton but the Gym at Russell Sage By JIM O'GRADY New York Times Published: Sunday, May 5, 2002 Hernando Campo, a ninth grader, gripped a cricket bat and crouched before a plastic set of wickets in the Russell Sage Junior High School gym on Tuesday. David Fingal, a player on the United States National Cricket Team, hurled a tennis ball toward him in the stiff-armed style of the sport. Hernando perfectly timed the ball's bounce, but instead of taking a gracefully compact cricket swing, he unleashed a gruesome baseball uppercut. The ball flew by him and banged against the wickets for an out. Amar [Sham] Samaroo, a ninth-grade math teacher at the school, frowned. ''Bend your knees!'' he shouted at his student, who was practicing with some 30 other boys and girls. Mr. Samaroo is part of a group of Caribbean immigrants who want to turn cricket into a mainstream American sport...more
Michael Holding bowls them over at the Russell Sage School  (From Left) L. Lowe, V. Lekhram; M. Holding; S. Samaroo and S. Caesar, Secretary of USACA. April 8, 2000 The Russell Sage School in Forest Hills, New York, added another chapter to its glorious history when ICC Cricket Ambassador and player extraordinaire, Mr. Michael “Whispering Death” Holding visited the school on Friday last. Ambassador Holding was in New York as part of an initiative by the ICC to spread the gospel of the gentleman's game to the non-traditional cricket playing countries of the world during the week of April 2-9, designated as International Cricket Week. But this once in a lifetime opportunity almost did not materialize because USACA was unable to secure a school for Mr. Holding to speak. But at the midnight hour, the NY Cricket Region sought the help of Mr. Sham Samaroo, a teacher at the Russell Sage school who had started a recreational cricket program there. With a time line of a mere two days, Sham Samaroo won approval from the school administration; planned; and successfully hosted Ambassador Holding. By the end of the second day the talk among the students was: ‘Whispering Death is coming; Whispering Death is coming!!’...more
The Russell Sage Experiment Where public school cricket first began School's Athlete of the Year Awards renamed for Holding and Tendulkar Some ten years before cricket became a recognised sport in the New York public schools in 2008, I started a recreational cricket program at the Russell Sage school in Forest Hills. The Sage school cricket experiment began in 1998 with a proposal to the school administration to start an afterschool cricket program. Though supportive of the idea, the proposal was rejected because cricket, at the time, was not a recognized sport within the New York public schools. The following year, I attended a meeting of USACA where members of the NY Region were in attendance. I took the opportunity to make my proposal again, and to ask for resources to start the program. But here again, although they were supportive, they too were not in a position to provide any resources. But hope springs eternal in the human breast. Disappointed but not defeated, I volunteered an after school recreational cricket program at the Sage school. The school administration, although they could not provide any financial resources, enthusiastically supported the idea, and the rest, as they say, is history. Thus began school cricket in the public schools of New York. Without any financial resources, we improvised using the garbage cans in the school playground as wickets. Nevertheless, it was a most memorable experience for my students and me. Then in April 2000 I received a telephone call from Selwyn Caesar, secretary of USACA, soliciting my help in securing the Russell Sage school for Michael Holding to conduct a cricket seminar and clinic as part of the ICC Cricket Week. And for the next three years, in honour of Ambassador Holding's visit, the Male and Female Athlete of the Year Award, presented each year at the school's graduation, was renamed the Michael Holding and the Sachin Tendulkar Athlete of the Year Award respectively.
Michael Holding in Seventh Heaven at Sage May 15,2000 The seventh graders at the Russell Sage school in Forest Hills were a part of the large gathering of students who participated in the ICC cricket week festivities this past April with ICC’s cricket Ambassador and fast bowling ace, Mr. Michael “Whispering Death” Holding. On the sport of cricket, the school's Athletic Director, Kathleen Ponze, said that the passion that the game generates is very contagious and she felt it most acutely during Ambassador Holding’s address. She is very impressed by the emphasis that the game places on fitness and athleticism. Asked about a possible cricket program at Sage, Ms. Ponze was quick to remind us that that was indeed one of the things that she had requested of the USACA delegation that visited the school when Holding was there...more
The Russell Sage School Mission and Vision Statement on Cricket “Cricket is more free from anything sordid, anything dishonorable, than any game in the world. To play it kindly, honorably, generously, self-sacrificingly, is a moral lesson in itself, and the classroom is God’s air and sunshine.” (Lord Harris). To celebrate ICC Cricket Week 2000, the United Nations Secretary General, Mr. Kofi Anan, said: “The spirit of cricket is that the players respect each other – which is precisely what the peoples of the world need to do in order that this century would be more peaceful than the last.” In addition to the enormous benefits associated with playing sports – physical fitness; sharpened reflexes and hand-eye coordination - students will come to know and to share the numerous life skills associated with the game of cricket. With its Code of Laws, the spirit of cricket is an acknowledged moral educator. The expression ‘its not cricket’ is understood throughout the world as meaning that something is not fair. With its emphasis on sportsmanship and fair play, cricket teaches our youths to be gracious in defeat – we can be adversaries without becoming adversarial.
A Winning Combination at the Russell Sage School April, 2002 This past week the 2002 Sports For Life-Skills Program got under way at The Russell Sage School in Forest Hills. In an age of rebelliousness amongst our youths, where contempt for authority and rules is fashionable, this program, organized by Sham Samaroo, a staff member, and Bernie Cuadra, SPINS 28 Anti-drug Program coordinator, endeavors to reach our teens through a medium they respect and cherish – sports...more | |
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